New rules for medical practice

The Medical Licensing Department at the Supreme Council of Health is to establish a Qatar Council of Health Practitioners (QCHP), which would be charged with the task of issuing “fit-to-practice certificates” in the country.

Medical Licensing director Dr Jamal al-Khani yesterday said the QCHP would perform all the present functions of the Medical Licensing Department (MLD) in addition to the validation process.

Speaking at the first health practitioner registration information workshop with the theme “Working Together”, organised by the department for nurses, doctors, technicians and employers of medical practitioners, he said that within the next two months, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) would change the present procedure by testing applicants based on internationally-acceptable examination norms. By early next year

“we intend to introduce six new tests, first for general practitioners and later specialists.”

The new measures have been taken partly because of the growing number of fake certificates being submitted by applicants,

officials said.

“We are working on approving some basic competencies for surgeons and are also considering starting issuing provisional licences to practitioners pending the results,”

al-Khani said.

He hinted that issuing of medical licences valid up to three years was also under consideration.

To further streamline the procedure, MLD has introduced a new set of policies on granting certificates to medical doctors wanting to practice in Qatar.

The new policy involves verification of certificates and related data by Singapore-based company DataFlow before MLD would issue any certificate.

“All health practitioners wishing to work in Qatar will have their medical qualifications, licences and their past work experience verified by DataFlow first before we begin their certification process,”

MLD registration manager Craig Smith said.

The official said it became necessary to review the certification process as

“we have detected applicants with false claims about their qualifications and past work experiences”.

“Every month, the department receives about 100 applications and we have found 35% to 50% of the applicants in different medical specialisations submitting one false claim or more,”

he said.

Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/t ... 57&parent_id=56